Hello guys,
Here is my review of my 3G 32g iPad, I will describe positives and negatives and even make some comparisons. The only other apple device I have purchased is an iPod.

After weeks and months of waiting since purchasing my iPad across the pond, I for one, couldn't wait to use it for the first time, when Christmas day came around. Well the big day came around, the large 25th, and after hurry down the stairs and ripping open my presents I came across my ( dramatic music) iPad! Scissors in hand , I un-boxed my beautiful machine,charged it and then booted it. One thing I can point out at this point , is that it the iPad is not a standalone device ( I knew it wasn't when purchasing) as you need a computer with iTunes to boot it. The machine weighs at 1.6 pounds, 730 grams for the 3G version, 1.5 pounds, 680 grams for the wifi version.

After charging it and spending an hour surfing the Internet , I was incredibly impressed immediately at how fast and efficient it is to go in and out of websites, i was able to check all of my favourite websites faster than the time needed for my laptop to boot, plus one for the iPad. Christmas day went on and every minute of using the IPad , I discovered a new amazing feature ,
whether it be an application or aspect of the iPad, and I immediately saw the massive impact the iPad will have on my life.

Points of notice:

The user of the iPad must have an iTunes account and application store account to maximise the iPads true potential, and why wouldn't you want an iTunes / application store account, you can get thousands of amazing application's on the application store, and you get get all of your favourite music and films/ tv shows from iTunes.

The iPad battery life is amazing easily 12 plus hours on the correct settings.

People online have complained about the weight of the iPad, I understand were they are coming from however I cam easily hold my iPad in one hand for a long period of time , and Im about the weakest person you will ever know; back to the iPad. People also complain that the iPad is just a giant iPhone or iPod, they are entitled to believe this obscure comment, however there is nothing worse than surfing the Internet on my iPod or my uncles iPhone, it is night on impossible to type and even see the website, on my iPad however I can switch between websites within a blink of an eye, and I can see all of my favourite websites on the gorgeous 9.7*inch (25 cm) liquid crystal display (1024 Ã— 768 pixels), the iPad is the fastest device I have or have seen at browsing the Internet, and I can browse anywhere I would like thanks to the 3G service. (3G service does require subscription, prices vary depending on the band-with supplier and data plan).

Throughout my week of using the iPad , it has already been a lifesaver in numerous occasions, One time in the car we were lost , my iPad found the way, We were able to divert away from an awful two hour long traffic jam thanks to my iPad, I can produce work documents and send them to my teachers, effortlessly, the iPad is essential in Anybodies lives, for loads of different reasons, the iPad can do anything, it will be easier to list what the iPad can't do, so here goes.

No flash support - this was a large point of criticism before I used my iPad, however I have not yet been limited by the lack of flash support, and I can watch all of the videos for specific websites via you tube or that websites application, and with sky fire growing, hopefully in the near future we will have support for our favorite websites.

No camera - The fact that the iPad doesn't have a camera is no issue to me, thats what my camera is for , however i understand that people may have found a camera useful for conference calls or FaceTime, however I have yet to find this a disadvantage.

No USB porticull - Yes thats right, without a USB port you will be unable to transfer files onto the iPad , this should have been implemented, however no one noes what then future may bring, with iOS 5 we may have a new system setting were it will be easier to transfer files onto the iPad.

No expandable memory - this is another disadvantage , when you buy your memory type 16 , 32 , 64 G, this perhaps also should have been implemented however I for one won't get close to filling my flash drive memory.

Many of the main disadvantages such as lack of multitasking , have been resolved in iOS 4.32 leaving the iPad an incredible device with fewer weaknesses.

I will now conclude this review by stating one thing, for all you iPad criticisers who say " the iPad has no use in my life" as soon as you pickup this wonderful device you will embrace it's magnificence , then you will know the impact it will have on your life, this isn't a game changer, it is a life changer.

Thank you all very treading my review , I know it is long and hopefully I haven't droned on to much, Thank you very much for reading.

To share your iPad review. It is good to read that someone did find this device "life changing." I have thoroughly enjoyed my iPad since I got it way back in June. It is still going strong, it is still being used often throughout my day.

Thanks to this forum, I have met a lot of interesting, helpful, funny people. That is par for the course with this iPad. Why wouldn't a world class device have such a world class forum?

It will probably be great to use, however, I haven't got a clue how to surf the web on it. I can't receive email as my settings are wrong, but I can send. I'm not all that computer savvy as to filling in information and it is asking me for a new password all the time. I added the weather channel and so help me it gave me the wrong city and I can't figure out for the life of me how to change that. I spent 3 hrs. on that tonight.
There is no BACK button for most apps. so I feel trapped and have to push that little button at the bottom to go out of an app, can't move on or back.

I feel drained tonight just from trying to work my way through the shortcomings that I am finding. I hate having to use passwords or passcodes as it calls them. For the life of me I can't remember them 5 min. later. If I use the same one, it tells me so and asks for a new one,,,,,,what a pain in the you know what.

Now thats just me, I seem to not be able to get around in iPad like the rest of you, I'm not putting it down in any way, just wish I had more knowledge than I do. I kept hitting the edit button in The Weather Network trying to reset it to where I live and not a place 15 hrs. away, it just wouldn't let me edit it, I tap tap tapped it over and over, with no luck.

Now if you could tell me how to get on the internet with my new iPad, I'd be thrilled and what am I doing wrong with my setting for incoming mail? I'm on IP telus.net
so I have smpt.telus.net for incoming mail. Is that wrong? Man! I'm baffled.
You can all write to me and help
Thanks for listening

One more thing that really upset me tonight:
I went into support on The Weather Channel and explained my problem with them giving me the wrong city and when I was all through and hit send, it wouldn't send unless I used facebook to send it, it wanted to publish it on FB. That blew my mind, total frustration

It will probably be great to use, however, I haven't got a clue how to surf the web on it. I can't receive email as my settings are wrong, but I can send. I'm not all that computer savvy as to filling in information and it is asking me for a new password all the time. I added the weather channel and so help me it gave me the wrong city and I can't figure out for the life of me how to change that. I spent 3 hrs. on that tonight.
There is no BACK button for most apps. so I feel trapped and have to push that little button at the bottom to go out of an app, can't move on or back.

I feel drained tonight just from trying to work my way through the shortcomings that I am finding. I hate having to use passwords or passcodes as it calls them. For the life of me I can't remember them 5 min. later. If I use the same one, it tells me so and asks for a new one,,,,,,what a pain in the you know what.

Now thats just me, I seem to not be able to get around in iPad like the rest of you, I'm not putting it down in any way, just wish I had more knowledge than I do. I kept hitting the edit button in The Weather Network trying to reset it to where I live and not a place 15 hrs. away, it just wouldn't let me edit it, I tap tap tapped it over and over, with no luck.

Now if you could tell me how to get on the internet with my new iPad, I'd be thrilled and what am I doing wrong with my setting for incoming mail? I'm on IP telus.net
so I have smpt.telus.net for incoming mail. Is that wrong? Man! I'm baffled.
You can all write to me and help
Thanks for listening

Click to expand...

It is too bad you are spending so much time going nowhere! That is frustrating--I can relate. Let's discuss the problem with email.

If I understand you correctly, you have Telus as your internet service provider. Telus provides you with email, right? You have to look at your iPad as a facsimile of what you would normally do on a PC.

1. Do you use Outlook?
2. Or do you go directly into Telus.net and read your email online?

In either case, to get the iPad to retrieve your email, you have to go into settings and set up your account. You also have to figure out which protocol you are using on Telus.net: POP or IMAP. Once you get that figured out, you then go into settings and plug in the information. For example: for POP, domain=telus.net, server: POP3, incoming mail: pop.tells.net, outgoing email: smtp.telus.net. You enter your userid that you use to logon to Telus.Net and password.

Regarding Weather Channel. I did not have this app, until you mentioned it. So I went and got it--it was free anyway. Just from playing with it for a couple of minutes, once you allowed it to 'find you', it found you in the wrong place? I'm in the USA I did not have to logon to Weather Channel. Maybe I've confused that issue with something else? But to add the correct city in Weather Channel, on the main screen, you'll see an open book. Tap on that and you can add your city.

Most apps do not have back buttons, but for the most part, those that do, give you arrow keys that are on the upper left or right of the screen. In the Weather Channel app, you just have to tap on what information you want to look up and tap back another icon to get to the original view. For example, you want severe weather information, tap on that, then if you want to go back to local weather, tap on that.

As to getting different pass codes/passwords...I don't know how to answer such a broad, un specified issue. For example, what app are you having problems logging onto?

I hope I have helped you. I'm sure that you'll get lot more assistance. Just hang in there. If you have never used an Apple product, it does take some time getting used to how easy it really is.

I have the Weather Channel free app, and you can just type in your zip code/postal code or city/state, etc. I've tried it by location and found it to be pretty accurate, but if you want your specific area, you just need to tell it that.
Surfing should be no problem at all. I have a wifi only model, and it detected my wifi at home with no issue at all, and continues to do so. My whole set up of the iPad was flawless-worked right out of the box, just like iPhone. Because I have iPhone, I was already used to the iOS web browser and apps that don't have back buttons. But as pointed out, most you just click somewhere on the screen to get back & forth through the various facets you need. You should be fine, and will get used to it.

I believe the iPad is a wonderful piece of technology. The battery life alone is amazing. My word for it is "Crispy" just like the screen, it's rich and sharp. Mines worked right out of the box as well. The only small flaw is that the machine doesn't support flash.......but I think it's all in Apples business plan. Hehe. .....

I am a senior user (in the biological sense!) and have been pleasantly surprised at how logical this thing is. I have an Ipod Touch and found that, as many have said, once you get the idea around using the interface, it all makes sense. I feel for LoveRem63 and what I will tell you is that I was just as frustrated when I 1st got the Ipad for me (64G 3G) and my wife (16G wifi). We struggled until we finally began to "get it". In my opinion, the easiest way to figure it out is to read these forums (they are worth their weight in gold!) and experiment using the many, many free apps. My wife really learned to use it through the many games, which she really loves. Oh yea, another novel method and tool is to read the user manual, which many never get to!

I started using this thing wondering what was it good for. I really purchased them for us out of curiosity over all the media attention it was getting. Now many weeks later, I use it to do vitually all my banking and credit card business, write letters using Pages, keep my family budget using Numbers, do all my email stuff on it, do all internet searches and purchases on it, share over 800 photos in multiple albums with friends and family and print to my HP C410a via wifi from it. Oh yea, and generally do all this using my BT Apple keyboard when I'm in my easy chair (which, as a senior, is most of the time). I didn't think it would be as useful as a PC or laptop due to the lack of a USB port, hard disk space, etc. The fact is that I didn't understand how to use this piece of glass in a practical sense. Then I learned about Mobile me and iDisk and the cameral interface, etc., etc.

The point I'm trying to make is that this wonderful piece of technology has evolved from a curiosity for me and my wife to a whole new way of communicating and learning. I agree with those whole call it a "game changer", it truly is. Hang in there LoveRem63, if this old retired soldier can get this thing, so can you.

It's good to see the "biologically seasoned" people getting in on the iPad too. My mom has one, and she loves it. I think that is where the simplicity and lack of features really is a positive for the iPad. As much as I want a good quality Android tablet, my mom wouldn't want it at all. She wouldn't change the look and feel of it, she wouldn't use any widgets, she would use it the same way she uses her iPad, just to run a few apps, browse the web, and e-mail.

This is why even though Android tablets are technically better than the iPad, it will still sell well, because many people don't care about specs and customization ability, they just want something that is simple and works 99.9% of the time (nothing is perfect).

Actually my mom is thinking about one too, but I'm here in Oklahoma and she is in Alabama.....my bank account may not be able to stand the phone bills!

Interesting comment regarding the quality of the Android tabs. I used to be pretty tech savvy but, man-o-man has it gone fast down the road! Given the reality of spam, viruses and other kinds of bots, etc., your right, the IPad is probably the best platform for those of us who really aren't looking for production as much as convenience.

However, I am curious about the power and customizable nature you're talking about. What site or source would you recommend for learning about those differences? I realize this thread is the wrong place for this.

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